Unimodality Problems in Ehrhart Theory

Ehrhart theory is the study of sequences recording the number of integer points in non-negative integral dilates of rational polytopes. For a given lattice polytope, this sequence is encoded in a finite vector called the Ehrhart $h^*$-vector. Ehrhart $h^*$-vectors have connections to many areas of mathematics, including commutative algebra and enumerative combinatorics. In this survey we discuss what is known about unimodality for Ehrhart $h^*$-vectors and highlight open questions and problems.Comment: Published in Recent Trends in Combinatorics, Beveridge, A., et al. (eds), Springer, 2016, pp 687-711, doi 10.1007/978-3-319-24298-9_27. This version updated October 2017 to correct an error in the original versio

Positivity properties of Jacobi-Stirling numbers and generalized Ramanujan polynomials

Generalizing recent results of Egge and Mongelli, we show that each diagonal sequence of the Jacobi-Stirling numbers \js(n,k;z) and \JS(n,k;z) is a P\'olya frequency sequence if and only if $z\in [-1, 1]$ and study the $z$-total positivity properties of these numbers. Moreover, the polynomial sequences \biggl\{\sum_{k=0}^n\JS(n,k;z)y^k\biggr\}_{n\geq 0}\quad \text{and} \quad \biggl\{\sum_{k=0}^n\js(n,k;z)y^k\biggr\}_{n\geq 0} are proved to be strongly $\{z,y\}$-log-convex. In the same vein, we extend a recent result of Chen et al. about the Ramanujan polynomials to Chapoton's generalized Ramanujan polynomials. Finally, bridging the Ramanujan polynomials and a sequence arising from the Lambert $W$ function, we obtain a neat proof of the unimodality of the latter sequence, which was proved previously by Kalugin and Jeffrey.Comment: 17 pages, 2 tables, the proof of Lemma 3.3 is corrected, final version to appear in Advances in Applied Mathematic

Examples and counterexamples in Ehrhart theory

This article provides a comprehensive exposition about inequalities that the coefficients of Ehrhart polynomials and $h^*$-polynomials satisfy under various assumptions. We pay particular attention to the properties of Ehrhart positivity as well as unimodality, log-concavity and real-rootedness for $h^*$-polynomials. We survey inequalities that arise when the polytope has different normality properties. We include statements previously unknown in the Ehrhart theory setting, as well as some original contributions in this topic. We address numerous variations of the conjecture asserting that IDP polytopes have a unimodal $h^*$-polynomial, and construct concrete examples that show that these variations of the conjecture are false. Explicit emphasis is put on polytopes arising within algebraic combinatorics. Furthermore, we describe and construct polytopes having pathological properties on their Ehrhart coefficients and roots, and we indicate for the first time a connection between the notions of Ehrhart positivity and $h^*$-real-rootedness. We investigate the log-concavity of the sequence of evaluations of an Ehrhart polynomial at the non-negative integers. We conjecture that IDP polytopes have a log-concave Ehrhart series. Many additional problems and challenges are proposed.Comment: Comments welcome

h-Vectors of matroids and logarithmic concavity

Let M be a matroid on E, representable over a field of characteristic zero. We show that h-vectors of the following simplicial complexes are log-concave: 1. The matroid complex of independent subsets of E. 2. The broken circuit complex of $M$ relative to an ordering of E. The first implies a conjecture of Colbourn on the reliability polynomial of a graph, and the second implies a conjecture of Hoggar on the chromatic polynomial of a graph. The proof is based on the geometric formula for the characteristic polynomial of Denham, Garrousian, and Schulze.Comment: Major revision, 9 page